Are You My Clarity?
by SummerMistedDragon
Summary: Summary: Post Avengers: AoU, with the mind stone no longer connected to the Scepter...someone is very upset and looking to kill. But it looks like that's not happen since the number one target has left the building. And the Avengers are going to need everyone they can find to stop the oncoming threat. R&R Please? Any and All criticism welcome!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...le sigh...well ok, I have a handful of OC's but they are halfway altered legends...**

 **Summary: Post Avengers: AoU, with the mind stone no longer connected to the Scepter...someone is very upset and looking to kill. But it looks like that's not happen since the number one target has left the building. And the Avengers are going to need everyone they can find to stop the oncoming threat.**

* * *

 **Chapter One  
**

Xxx

Time had no meaning...not anymore at least...hours...days...months...years…

It meant nothing to him, there was only the darkness, the emptiness, the hopelessness...and the pain.

Something growled to his left...or maybe it was his right...he couldn't tell anymore. Couldn't open his eyes to see the visitor to his cell, couldn't determine his position, he could be upside down and not be aware of it for all he cared.

He just wanted it to end…

There was nothing for him anymore...no will, no power, no hope...nothing…

Yet his heart kept beating painfully in his chest, straining to keep his dying body alive when all he wanted was to give up. Wanted to just die…

That would never happen, _He_ wouldn't let that happen...death wasn't an option until he was no longer of any use, and since now all he was a source of viable entertainment, there was no hope of his worthless existence ever coming to an end.

He never should have let it get this far. This could have been prevented...he'd learned so long ago to keep his emotions in check, that to act without thinking just because rage and jealousy and guilt had clouded his mind was downright childish to him.

Why did he ever let go?

Xxx

It could have been a day, a year, or a century the next time something changed about his existence. Unnatural light flooded his cell, and he cringed against the sudden change to the pitch black he'd been in for so long. Two sets of rough hands grabbed his arms, eliciting hisses of pain as the shackles were undone and he was dropped to the floor. He didn't fight it, there was no use in fighting.

The antechamber was full again when he was dragged to the center arena and dropped in front of the reason behind all his pain. The two who brought him quickly scurried away, bowing to their master as He finally turned to the almost dead prisoner.

Always on the brink of death...never actually dying…

"Look at you...my little puppet...how you have disappointed me…" Once that voice had promised power and a throne, had promised eternity...now the deep growl promised endless pain and despair, he shuddered, unable to bit back the faint keen in his throat as a thick boot slammed into his ribs, shifting the pair that had completely broken last time and cracking another even further. One of these sessions he was going to end up drowning in his own blood, again, and the resulting choking would be just as painful as the subsequent beatings because of yet another failure...this one for not being able to heal and endure the torture.

His magic was long gone...bound and locked deep within, anything that filtered past the double layers of bindings and control was all that was left to keep his heart beating and mind all too aware of what was going on. How he wished to go insane and just exist...no longer able to think through and remember every single moment of pain.

He was speaking again, regaling the roaring and shrieking crowd with His might and conquests, His plans for the future, and the fate of his prisoner.

There was no reason to listen in, he'd heard this speech a thousand times over, the only thing that ever changed was what exactly would be done to him this time...it varied depending on His moods.

The Other sneered off to one side, six fingered hands shifting their grip on a long handle, the metal wrapped in cracking leather from a Bilgesnipe's hide. Oh great...whipping day...the long coil hidden behind the Other's draping cloak was barbed with jagged hooked spikes, sometimes poisoned, sometimes not...either way he was in for a long session this time.

Something in him shifted, deep in his core, at first it was like he was about to vomit...but then he remembered there was absolutely nothing in his body to throw up. The strange feeling was slowly growing, as if trying to take over his body and do something that was likely going to hurt.

No...not hurt… _heal_ …

If anyone saw his broken ribs snap back into place, still cracked and throbbing but no longer at risk of puncturing a lung...they didn't show it. Yet the instant that happened he stretched his weak essence out to the feeling and grabbed hold of it, clamping it down to prevent it from taking over.

He assessed it, weak and brittle, but also urgent and growing. A sharp shout from the crowd made him flinch instinctively, and kept His attention away, time….he needed time…

But how? How could this happen? His jailer had laced his entire being with binding spells and blocks and controls to the point even his mind was no longer his own, trapped within His power...on top of that after his disaster of an invasion and attempting to complete his task...the Allfather had bound what little was left of him even further, he'd used up his meager extras on Svartalfheim. He was nothing…

Where was this coming from?

"...now then! Come here little puppet! Time to make you dance!"

Only this time, the icy burning did not take over his limbs and force his broken form over to the stanchion where he would be strung up exactly like a puppet and made to dance with the crack of the whip.

And by dance he meant thrash in the chains in horrible pain.

This time, he refused to move.

That earned a sharp glare, the ice blue eyes narrowing marginally as his jailer stalked closer, "Get up."

Again he didn't move.

"Get. Up."

"N-no…"

"What?"

"N-no...No!" Where he was getting this confidence, he had no idea, but judging by the murderous glare as his jaw was caught by the thick purple skinned hand and jerked up.

"What did you say?" Thanos growled, fingers gripping tighter.

"No." He repeated stupidly, eyes widened in shock as he stared at the left hand of the Titan, no longer was purple skin visible, now the fist was encased in ethereal gold that glistened and glowed with it's own light versus the ugly glow this rock had.

The Infinity Gauntlet…

Uh oh…

Thanos tossed him aside, roaring in rage once he saw where his prisoner was looking, "See what I have done little puppet! The gauntlet is just the beginning, now you will finish what you started and-"

Ok...suddenly stopping mid speech wasn't normal, and he looked up to see Thanos staring down at him, hand up as if to orchestrate his movements like a puppeteer. Only no matter how the Titan's fingers flicked or twisted, nothing happened to his prisoner's body. It remained hunched on the ground, trembling from pain and exhaustion, but no longer controlled by the might of the destructive being.

A roar ripped from Thanos' throat, the sound echoing in the antechamber as realization dawned on both the titan and his shocked captive.

"This cannot be! Where are your bindings you pathetic mage?! What have you done?!"

He couldn't answer, still reeling with the knowledge that his invisible chains were no longer binding him to this place, he was _free_ …

Thanos roared again, his own magic reaching out as if to try and capture his essence again. He reacted instinctively like had since he was very young, only unlike when he was a toddler, the shield he flung up wasn't flimsy and flickering, this was solid and strong, the two powers colliding with a resounding note of pure discordance that rang out and made everyone cringe.

He grimaced, trying to maintain the shield so he could stand up safely and face his captor like he should.

There was only one explanation for this...Thanos had been in possession of the Mind Stone long before he'd landed in front of him...almost literally.

The control had been both mental and physical, few of his actions were his own...all carefully planned and sculpted to hide the fact from even the most perceptive. Not that it mattered...no one knew…

But now...something had gone horribly wrong, for Thanos that is. His control was gone...nothing tied the Titan to his puppet nor the puppet to his master in turn. Meaning something had happened to the scepter he had been given, the mind stone no longer connecting to Thanos and therefore breaking all binds the Titan had.

A grin tried to stretch across his face, coming out more of a disgusting grimace with the motley of bruises and bleeding scrapes.

"No…"

Thanos could do nothing as he backed up a step, and then another, keeping distance between the two as even if magic was now off the table, there was plenty of physical damage that could still be done.

He'd had it...enough was enough…

"Fine then," Thanos sneered angrily, hands balling into fists as he jerked his chin towards a set of Chitauri cowering in a corner, "You are obviously of no use to me any longer."

Nothing would erase what had happened since his capture, nothing would erase the pain and abuse…

Yet, nothing also would erase his eyes seeing a flash of blonde as Thanos yelled for the next prisoner to be brought in, pointing at him to 'be disposed of'. Thanos roared in anger as he finally let the feeling that had been swelling within him loose.

The sharp shriek the flash of blonde let out would likely haunt him for a long time...and he had no idea why. But the look of pure rage stretching across Thanos' face as he tried to grab his prisoner was hilarious.

It didn't matter...it was too late…

Loki was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...le sigh...well ok, I have a handful of OC's but they are halfway altered legends...**

 **Summary: Post Avengers: AoU, with the mind stone no longer connected to the Scepter...someone is very upset and looking to kill. But it looks like that's not happen since the number one target has left the building. And the Avengers are going to need everyone they can find to stop the oncoming threat.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two  
**

Xxx

While yes, Thor was a demi-god, pretty much immortal, and had a much higher endurance level than humans, including his friend and fellow Avenger Steve Rogers, there were days he just needed to rest.

Aka crash...and so he did... _hard_ …

Meaning tonight as he slept, he fit his title of Thunder God with how loud his snores were, guess it was a good thing no one had chambers in this wing...not anymore. Loki's suite was just down the long hall, and he had always complained and jested about Thor's snoring, making cracks that the noise could wake the dead. It had taken the blonde Asgardian only two nights of sleeping and knowing he had snored to realize there was yet another thing he'd missed about his brother having fell from the Bifrost.

Throw in it had been almost five years since he'd first lost his...brother...there were many things Thor missed…

But waking suddenly in the night to the feeling he was being watched was not one of them, and he groaned in complaint as he rolled over to stare at the ceiling instead of being sprawled on his front and buried in the pillows.

"Thor."

Ok, so he was being watched, it took his sleep-addled mind several minutes to wake up enough so he could sit up and look around, trying to discern anything or anyone unusual in his room. Proved how much he needed sleep as his first instinct to an intruder should have been summon his hammer immediately.

Thor was immensely glad exhaustion had won out this time, considering his hammer was across the room and standing directly between it and its bearer was Loki.

"Loki...by the Norns…" Thor trailed off in shock, jumping from bed instantly as the hunched form of the once powerful demigod swayed and started to fall. Loki collapsed, falling against Thor's chest as he just gave up, luckily the blonde was there to carefully pick him up as he went limp, actually huddling against Thor's chest for warmth as he trembled.

"Oh brother...what...what happened to you…?"

Loki didn't answer, moaning softly as Thor gently set him on the bed for a moment so he could struggled into actual clothes and light a handful of lamps.

The light did nothing to help, Loki was a mess...Thor was terrible at healing or even assessing injuries but he could see this was bad... _really_ bad...and that was trying to see around the pure filth covering the pale god's ragged clothes.

"Loki...I…"

Again the black haired god moaned, this time coughing before he turned to look at Thor now crouching beside the bed, "Thor…"

"Yes? Brother please...what happened to you?"

Thor didn't receive an answer, or at least not a productive one, instead Loki mumbled something that sounded vaguely like 'help me'…

Or it could have been 'kill me', Thor wasn't entirely sure which but he was going for the former as he grabbed his traveling cape, carefully wrapping his brother in it before donning his armor in a flash. With Mjolnir tucked on his belt, Thor was fully able to pick up Loki again, this time wincing as he realized just how fragile and light he was.

This was not good, and Thor walked faster as he headed for the infirmary, fully intending on awaking all of Asgard if it meant Loki got help.

He wasn't expecting to find Odin up and speaking with the Captain of the Guards in the middle of the hallway.

Thor hadn't eavesdropped around the corner like this in centuries, but that didn't stop him from pausing and hiding against a pillar as the voices rose.

"...so it is confirmed, Loki is not on Asgard."

"No your Highness, his banishment was successful and they are no further signs of him. Nor is he on any of the other Realms, Heimdall has not seen him."

"Then he is as good as dead. It is better that he not be found."

"Considering sir he masqueraded as you for almost six months before being found out, dead is almost too easy of a way out."

Odin humphed softly, and Thor had to strain to hear him over Loki's faint but still ragged breathing, "But he is gone, and no one is the wiser, the fact that he was able to maintain such a lengthy façade tells me that it would do us no good to bring him back as it is to face punishment, not when such methods would only cause longer turmoil. For all of Asgard. No, Loki is gone, I am on the throne, and no one is to the wiser. Remember your oath Captain."

"Silence your majesty, of course. But if Loki were to return on his own?"

"Kill him, immediately, and do not stop at a lethal blow, destroy him."

"Yes my king."

Thor stood in shock, unable to listen further as the two split up and vanished down separate hallways, all the Prince could do was hold Loki tighter as the god shuddered faintly.

It took him three minutes...one hundred and eighty seconds...to gather his thoughts and come up with a new plan, especially considering his mind was still reeling from Loki's abrupt appearance let alone this new information. Either way, he made a detour, slipping silently to the stables and thanking his ancestors he wasn't caught.

Gyllir was not happy to be woken up at this early hour, stamping impatiently and tossing his head in irritation while Thor saddled him in a rush, the longer Loki was without aid, the more Thor feared for him, considering earlier a slight shake and his name had stirred the Trickster from his daze and he'd weakly respond. Now he didn't even twitch.

As unhappy as his stallion was, Thor knew he wouldn't fail his rider, consenting to a second body as Thor awkwardly climbed up with Loki still in his arms. The horse charged free from the stable a moment later, rushing for the Bifrost with all he had once Thor let him have his head.

He never saw the figure in the shadows watching him go.

Xxx

"Heimdall! Open the Bifrost I beg of you-"

"No need to shout Son of Odin, I know why you are here."

Thor growled, but carefully dismounted from Gyllir after ensuring Loki would not slide off, having stirred enough during the ride to slump against the stallion's neck, somehow holding on to the mane and saddle.

"You knew! You knew Loki was alive and did not tell me!"

"I knew only when his enchantments had faded away upon discovery," Heimdall intoned, blazing eyes never turning from their watchful post at the helm of the Bifrost, "As I told the Allfather, soon after this discovery and subsequent retrieval of the Allfather from his hidden cell in the dungeons, Loki vanished from my sight yet again. He did not return to my gaze until within this last hour."

"Yet he was alive!" Thor shouted, hands in fists as he glared down the gatekeeper.

"Yes."

The simple admittance either calmed or at least dispersed Thor's frustration, enough that he was able to ask the question that the answer was what he feared.

"Heimdall, I must ask...I must beg you...Loki is not safe on Asgard, please...send me to Midgard-"

"The Allfather-"

"Wants my brother destroyed! I know of this and I do not care what he says, Heimdall I beg you to not tell him what I am about to do." Thor pleaded, heaving for air already and wishing not for the first time Loki was able to back him with his silver tongue

Heimdall turned slightly, staring at the son of Odin for a long moment, but when he turned back, Thor let out a pained sigh of defeat.

He was not expecting for the Watcher to stop him with a single statement.

"The Allfather has made no decree that you are not allowed to leave."

"What?"

"The Allfather has made no decree that you are not allowed to leave Asgard." Heimdall repeated, sounding incredibly vague but steady enough Thor listened further, "You are free to come and go as you please, what you do or not take with you to Midgard, is none of my concern."

Still tired, still confused, and still thoroughly pissed off, it took Thor a full minute to understand, it didn't set in until Heimdall opened the Bifrost without another word, stepping down from his post and moving to Gyllir as the stallion stamped impatiently.

Thor wasted no time in pulling Loki into his arms again, somehow forcing a grin at the low growl he got for disturbing the smaller god.

"Thank you...truly Heimdall-"

"I serve the Allfather, I am sworn to him and to Asgard son of Odin, heed this well. I cannot hide your actions forever, do not make me regret this."

With that the gatekeeper turned away entirely, beginning the long trek back to the stables as he lead Gyllir away, leaving the Bifrost open and waiting.

Thor never looked back.

Xxx

 _January 30th, 2016_

 _Seven months post New Avengers Facility Opening_

Xxx

" _Sir_."

He grunted, twitching a little.

" _Sir_."

Another twitch, this one accompanied by a soft sigh.

" _Sir_."

Yawn...twitch, muffled noise…

" _Sir_."

Grunt...huff...rollover in bed…

" _Sir_."

Another noise, another twitch…

Bifrost landing on his outer balcony and setting off a thousand screaming alarms…

"Friday! What in the hell...why didn't you wake me up?!"

" _I attempted to do so and you did not respond sir._ "

Tony growled, lunging upright and rushing out of the bedroom, at least the alarms started to shut down as first Tony yelled at them and then Thor did his part by speaking for the voice recognition protocols to activate. It had taken the thunder god three times to figure out the 'magic in the walls' of the Avengers Tower, and that he had to respond each time correctly or the alarms didn't shut off and everyone got really pissed off.

At least he'd figured it out.

Now Thor was able to meet Tony in the main room off the balcony and upper level suit machine, waiting somewhat patiently as Tony jogged down the stairs to him.

The playboy slash philanthropist wasn't expecting what he saw once he reached the bottom and saw the Asgardian fully, and what...no, _who_...he was carrying.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

* * *

 **Tada? Review Please?  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...le sigh...well ok, I have a handful of OC's but they are halfway altered legends...**

 **Summary: Post Avengers: AoU, with the mind stone no longer connected to the Scepter...someone is very upset and looking to kill. But it looks like that's not happen since the number one target has left the building. And the Avengers are going to need everyone they can find to stop the oncoming threat.**

 **To vampire10, Narvi and Vali, Feruze, smarterperson, CrystalSapphiremoon, Elephant021902, fan girl 666, Literature Fool, inoseepoint, Autobotlover56, Amasteria, Efnie, Python3921: Thank you for the faves and follows!**

 **To Guest: Here it is! Thank you!**

 **To T: A lot of people should be shown things from Loki's perspective. Thank you!**

 **To Victoria: Thank you!**

 **To Guest: Fascinating? Thank you!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three  
**

Xxx

 _January 31st, 2016_

 _8:35am_

 _Avengers Facility, Upstate New York_

Xxx

Head bobbing gently to the music, toes tapping to the beat, and eyes closed to the world. Wanda probably couldn't be anymore lost to her surroundings right now. Common sense dictated whoever disturbed her should be cautious.

Then again, most people might have laughed at her shriek when someone touched her shoulder.

Steve Rogers was not one of these people, especially considering Wanda lashed out instinctively and fried a hole through her bedroom wall at his touch.

The Captain just sighed, shaking his head at her slightly sheepish grin before handing her the duffel bag he'd brought.

"Get packed."

Xxx

 _February 4th, 2016_

 _Stark Tower_

 _New York, New York_

Xxx

Tony knew for a fact Steve was staring at him.

He also knew Steve was arguing with himself to come over and yet again start up the barely three day old argument that was already getting really boring.

Tony also knew he didn't care.

Why?

Because the billionaire hadn't gotten more than five hours of sleep in just as many days.

Put it simply, Loki was a mess, and after helping Thor get his brother partially cleaned up and in decent sleepwear, Tony knew he was out of his league and needed back up.

So, he'd called in help. Natasha had taken the call at one in the morning and by nine am had Dr. Cho packed up with her mobile equipment in a quinjet with the other Avengers inbound for NYC.

That had been four days ago.

Loki was still a mess, and still thankfully unconscious, though that might be a bad thing in reality. His injuries were so severe Thor had consented to Dr. Cho taking a tissue sample to map his genetic code out, intending on using the regen chamber to aid in the god's healing as soon as possible. That fact that this was necessary was the biggest red flag, according to the Thunder god, Loki should be healing on his own, at a much faster rate than he was currently.

Something was seriously wrong…

Well, aside from the obvious part where Loki was supposedly dead and lo and behold showed up in Thor's bedroom about ready to keel over.

Either way, dead or not, Tony didn't want to be there if and when Thor lost his brother a second time.

Which is why he was standing at the windows in the living room with a drink in his hand, staring pensively out at the city below. That and if he stood at the bar, Steve had an excuse to bug him.

Aside from Tony and Thor, only Rhodey was currently backing the idea of helping Loki, out of loyalty to Tony only though. The billionaire wasn't sure why he was helping yet.

The rest of the Avengers were against it, those not involved in New York were going off hearsay and the news, while Clint wasn't available to decide and Banner was still missing.

Though if the amount of time it was taking for Dr. Cho to map out Loki's genetic sequence kept dragging out, Tony might have to call in a few favors and change that MIA status.

 _Fast_

At least they all agreed on one thing, after of course arguing over it for so long, Thor had left his silent vigil in the infirmary to come see why his friends had arrived but not left the Heli-pad at all. Everyone had gotten a look at just how bad Thor's brother was, the extent of the injuries plain to see that first day because Stark hadn't a clue on what to do other than clean up what he could and try to stop any bleeding.

He was an engineer, not a doctor.

The verdict was, get Loki stable enough for questioning, then Steve and Natasha would decide where to go from there. Even Thor had admitted Loki couldn't exactly get away with all he'd done, but was adamant he would have a say in the final punishment.

That was until Dr. Cho had given her full report.

Ignoring first the deep seated infection and fever from the severe wounds, they were able to pass off the pneumonia as a result of this and the broken ribs, cracked but not out of place luckily. Bruises, scrapes, scratches, burns...marks covered Loki like a painting, deep whip marks had shredded his back into ribbons. Throw in new and old bone fractures and muscle damage from repeated dislocations, even with his god status Loki was lucky to be alive right now.

Torture...plain and simple…

" _Sir_."

"Yes Friday?"

" _Dr. Cho is requesting your immediate presence in the infirmary._ "

Xxx

Thor looked even more exhausted when Tony stepped into the room, still sitting at his brother's bedside, only this time he'd given up on staying upright and was just slumped against the hospital bed entirely.

He still wouldn't sleep though, even when assured by multiple people Loki was sedated and wasn't going to wake up for several hours.

It was too much of a risk.

Tony didn't blame him, they'd given up on the oxygen mask and settled for using a breathing tube to keep Loki going, all that had improved was eliminating the awful coughing for the time being since he wasn't choking at the moment.

Dr. Cho stepped away from her desk, nodding to Thor as she approached, "The mapping is complete, we can move Loki into the regen chamber in a few minutes, if all goes well he should be out within a couple hours."

Nodding, Tony let her complete her work, waving to Natasha across the room as he dropped a hand to Thor's shoulder, wincing at the faint jump.

"I hate to say this Point Break, but you need to get some sleep, Dr. Cho's got this handled. Reindeer Games will be fine."

"No," Thor rubbed at his eyes, sighing heavily, "I cannot leave him-"

"Thor-"

"He asked me to kill him Anthony, my brother may sometimes be irrational and reckless, but he is not one for dying to escape... _anything_...to be tortured to the point of this," Thor gestured to the bed, "I will not rest until I know who caused such pain upon my brother, they will woe the day they laid hands on him. That I swear."

Tony sighed, "I hear ya big guy, but wearing yourself into the ground is not the way to do it-"

"Stark-"

"At least get some sleep once he's in the chamber, nothing can go wrong then and he'll need you more once he's out of it anyway." Natasha interjected, stepping up with rubber gloves on so she could assist in the transfer. Dr. Cho was having no luck with her own staff in working with the mastermind behind New York's disaster, so she'd recruited whichever Avengers were willing. Natasha for her professionalism, Tony and Rhodey for their willingness, Thor because well...obviously...and Pietro…

Because he felt like the owed the doctor some assistance after she managed to revive him after the battle in/on Sokovia. That had been the only stupid o'clock in the morning phone call Tony had been happy to get. The silver-haired speedster had just recently been cleared to active duty, having been restricted first to medical recovery and then light training only for several months. The regen chamber could do some crazy things…

And it was about to do another, aka heal a patient it had never worked with before or on anything similar.

At least Loki was unconscious when the six of them transferred the long body into the chamber, easing him down slowly to not jar the breathing tube or IV lines. The needles were disconnected, the breathing tube was not.

Thor sighed heavily once the doors began to shut as they backed away, watching his brother be completely enclosed. "I...I will do as you ask...but I beg of you my friends, wake me if anything changes."

Nat nodded solemnly, "Of course big guy, go get some sleep."

He had to be exhausted to comply so willingly, stumbling from the room and disappearing to the elevator. Friday helpfully informed them he'd made it to his room and collapsed on his bed moments later.

Xxx

Minutes...hours...days…

Time meant nothing to him, the haze he found himself trapped in until just enough of that weak feeling bubbled up in his chest he had to twitch.

And a twitch led to a muscle protesting, and then something itching…

Waking up was hard, it took forever to sludge his way through the depths of unconsciousness and back to reality, wanting to flex long numb muscles and try to discern just where the hell was he that was causing unbearable itching.

His weak eyes opened to see a gray ceiling, or well a lid actually, there was some glass further down positioned over his torso, but most of this...container was some form of gray metal and…

Foam? By the Norns...what was going on?

Trying to tilt his head away from the itching sting of the tiny lights swirling over his face, jarred something down his throat.

That _hurt_ …

He screamed...or at least something similar to a scream slid past the obstruction, a sharp blast of air pulsing down the tube or whatever made his lungs throb in confusion from his exhaling to produce sound as more air tried to force its way in.

At least the itching lights shut off as he thrashed, gagging on the thing down his throat and smacking the close walls around him.

Something knocked on the "ceiling", jarring him back to gasping silence as he tried to breathe and throw up at the same time. Cold air flooded his surroundings as the lid moved, and he twisted to the side to get away from whatever had knocked, instead warm hands grabbed his upper arms, holding him steady as another pair of hands held his head and removed the tube down his throat.

Needless to say that set of hands vanished quickly once he threw up on the floor.

Whoever was holding him didn't flinch though, shifting to brace him better and lightly rub his back as he dry-heaved painfully. Once able to breathe, a cup of water was touched to his lips, but that set of hands only let him sip it, not chug it like he tried.

What in Valhalla…

The hands holding him must have been prepared for his jolt, shifting with ease as he panicked before trying to scramble away to avoid getting hit. Thick arms pinned him to a solid chest, a deep rumble coming from the muscle beneath the clothing his shaking body was against.

Words meant nothing to him, but the scent of the person holding him did make it through his panic…

... _pine...ozone...Fire_ …

Thor!

Loki jerked in the arms again, trying to shove them away, but the imitation of the Thunder God refused to let go, damn his captors were getting good at deceiving him.

He'd almost believed…

Xxx

Tony winced as Thor grunted under the strain of holding Loki still, the frail demi-god's head smacked into his brother's jaw as he struggled, trying everything he could to get away. Thank goodness Steve wasn't down here right now, he'd probably flip out…

Natasha and Dr. Cho were trying to get a needle into Loki's arm, trying to sedate him again since he didn't seem capable of hearing any of them, for that matter his eyes were blank, he wasn't seeing them either.

It took Tony stepping in as well to get the God of Mischief to be relatively contained long enough for the tranquilizer to be in injected, in the time it took the drug to work, Loki said the one thing that Thor really didn't want to hear.

"...Jus'...just kill me…"

Stark could have sworn he heard crickets chirping in the infirmary after Loki finally passed out, Thor was just about defeated as he held Loki's limp form, staring at the now blank face that was no longer panicked and full of pain. Natasha was just silent off to the side, watching the two gods with a neutral face, as for Dr. Cho...she looked a bit torn, caught between wanting to step in and care for her patient, and letting Thor and Tony handle things.

So the billionaire let out a loud sigh, something he'd learned from past experience when Thor was deep in thought, don't sneak up on him or move too abruptly without announcing or in this case _re_ announcing his presence. Thor shifted just enough that Tony knew it was safe to move closer, motioning for Dr. Cho to do the same.

"Think we should hook him back up to the regen?"

The doctor shook her head, "No, the treatment was nearly complete when it was terminated upon his awakening, the new skin just needs to be kept sterile and covered for a few days."

"Ok then…Thor, why don't you move Loki to the bed, we'll get him wrapped up and tucked in to sleep off the drugs...maybe he'll wake up better next time."

Thor didn't move at first, heaving a sigh before he looked up at Tony with utter defeat in his eyes, "Man of Iron...he wants me to...to _kill_ him…"

Natasha jumped in then, probably having a better idea how to handle this than Tony did, "He was coming off some serious narcotics Thor, those will mess anyone up, plus having a breathing tube in your throat and the regen chamber, bet he was confused out of his mind…"

"But-"

"Let us make him comfortable, then we shall see."

Dr. Cho's words got through to the Asgardian, and Thor nodded a bit before he stood, easily moving Loki from the chamber's base to the nearest bed.

By the time they were done, Loki was half mummified, at least to Tony, the only parts of him not covered pretty much were his nose, eyes, mouth, and finger tips, just about everything else had at least one layer of sterile gauze over it to keep the new cells safe.

Now, it was just time to wait.

* * *

 **Tada? don't hate me!  
**


End file.
